What is the significance of the children visit to calpurnia church

Consequently, the children watch as Reverend Sykes calls onto the Lord to bless the sick and suffering, and also addressed certain specific cases. The sermon is followed by a proceeding unfamiliar to the children — the collection of donations. The money, on this occasion, is being collected to assist Helen Robinson.

Through the experience of attending the black church, the children are made aware of the vast differences between the conditions of the blacks and their whites. Initially, Scout is very excited by the prospect of going to school, but however, she is left disappointed by her experience on the first day of school. Later, she prints down the alphabet onto the board in enormous capitals and asks the children whether they know what they are.

Everybody does, as most of them had failed the first year once before. One does not love breathing. Miss Caroline and scout get along badly in the afternoon as well. Walter Cunningham, a boy in her class, fails to bring his lunch, and Miss Caroline offers him a quarter to buy himself a meal. When Scout makes a well-intended attempt, however, to make things clearer to the teacher, she gets furious at Scout and slaps the back of her hand with a ruler.

Burris only comes to school on the first day of the year, making an appearance only to avoid trouble with the law. Before leaving, he makes vicious remarks, reducing the teacher to tears. It also provides a sharp commentary on the theme of children and education. When Atticus is early fifty, Jem and Scout begin to reflect that their father is too old to do anything worth telling their classmates. One Saturday, Tim Johnson, the property of Mr. Jem finds that something is wrong with the animal, and thus calls Calpurnia to investigate.

Jem and Scout put in their dimes from Atticus. Once the ten dollars is finally collected, the doors are opened and the service is over. Afterwards, Scout asks Calpurnia why Helen can't find work. She says that Tom's family is being shunned because of his alleged crime.

So, what'd he do? Cal reluctantly tells her that Bob Ewell has accused him of raping Ewell's daughter. First, Scout wonders why anyone would listen to the Ewells, and then asks Calpurnia what rape is. Uh, ask Atticus, Cal says. Now it's Jem's turn to ask questions. Why does the congregation sings their hymns the way they do, instead of saving up for hymn-books?

Well, hymn-books wouldn't do them much good—hardly any people in the church can read. Cal only can because Miss Maudie's aunt, Miss Buford, taught her to read.

Some other facts about Cal, which Jem and Scout only now think to ask her: She's older than Atticus though she doesn't know her age exactly, or even her birthday—she just celebrates it on Christmas to make it easy to remember. She grew up near Finch's Landing, and moved to Maycomb with Atticus when he married. She taught her oldest son Zeebo to read, too but not using anything like "This is Spot. See Spot run.

Nope, she brought out the big guns : the Bible and a book Miss Buford used to teach her—Blackstone's Commentaries , a gift from the Finch kids' grandfather. Upon their return from church, they find Aunt Alexandra waiting on the porch for them. She announces that at Atticus' request, she's coming to live with them for "a while. The third and final summer chronicled in To Kill a Mockingbird begins in these chapters. With school out, Scout's real education will begin again.

In fact, during this summer, she, Jem, and Dill will probably learn the most important and lasting lessons of their lives. Lee hints at this by noting the changes in Jem: He doesn't want Scout "pestering" him; Calpurnia begins referring to him as "Mister Jem," a title reserved for adults; and he develops "a maddening air of wisdom" that only annoys Scout.

She doesn't understand these changes, but the adults around her expect them. The minor hardships that start the summer foreshadow the much bigger dilemmas that the children will face during Tom's trial and its aftermath. Scout loses Jem as a regular playmate, causing her to fume. Then Scout receives word that Dill is staying in Meridian this summer, and Atticus is called to an emergency session of the legislature.

Finally, Aunt Alexandra arrives to live with them, seemingly unannounced. These small disappointments and challenges hint at the larger inconsistencies and unexpected outcomes of Tom Robinson's trial, which follows. For some time now, Scout and Jem have railed against people who insulted Atticus' decision to defend Tom. However, in these chapters, they begin to understand the importance of other people's opinions about them, especially Aunt Alexandra who "never let a chance escape her to point out the shortcomings of other tribal groups to the glory of our own.

Calpurnia worries about what others think as well. She is fanatical about Jem and Scout's cleanliness and attire when she takes them to church with her because "'I don't want anybody sayin' I don't look after my children. The children don't understand prejudice at its basest level, and Calpurnia seems to not possess it either. Consequently, the children are surprised when they ironically experience prejudice while attending Calpurnia's church.

There, a churchgoer named Lula confronts Calpurnia with, "'I wants to know why you bringin' white chillun to nigger church. In this instance, the children are like mockingbirds — they're just there to please Calpurnia and worship. This experience will give the children more compassion toward Tom's treatment from a white jury.

However, just as every white resident of Maycomb isn't prejudiced, not every member of Calpurnia's church is, either.